A little background info: the piece is for a weekly column I illustrate for the New Times called the 'Night Watch'. The column is generally on bars, dance clubs or events around the Ft.Lauderdale area and is cleverly written by Tara Nieuwesteeg.
This particular piece was a 1-day turnaround and featured an establishment where every menu item was based on a famous band or musician. I can't pass up a chance to draw portraits of classical rock stars so I thought having them work at the establishment would be a fun way to depict the scene.
I always start with a very loose pencil sketch just to hash out a composition. After I'm comfortable with it, I'll make sure the sketch fits the desired dimensions and continue working on the portraits.
As you can see from the inked piece below, I took out Morrison which will give me more room to splash text. I tried to pick recognizable singers through different decades and was left with Eddie Vedder (90s), Freddie Mercury (70s/80s), and Jimmy Hendrix (60s).
Below is the final illustration with some added touches! The piece was drawn with a quill pen and brush on illustration board. I used photoshop to add some of the background textures.ROCK ON!
